Exercise Obsession

[Libbyjane1976 1]

Question for you guys. I've been banded since Jan. 28th, so far i've lost about 37 lbs. I have 5 cc's in my band right now so i'm not restricted much.

This may seem really funny because 4 months ago I could care less about this but lately anytime I eat something that I don't normally eat. For example today I was hungrier than usual and I had half of a sandwich extra to eat so I felt like a cow. I had to exercise. I'm becoming so obsessed with exercise I don't even recognize myself. I feel anytime I eat anything extra or a little higher in fat and calories I have to work out. Does anyone feel the same way?

I know it's a good thing that I'm working out but it's just funny because 4 months ago exercise wasn't even on my mind and now i'm obsessed with it.

[bearbandit 0]

I am offically addicted to exercise. I feel that if I miss my workout I just dont feel right. First off try not to punish your body because you ate something you shouldn't have. Since your action is to exercise in responce to eating too much, this means your body is acting totally normal wanting extra food. The more you exercise the more calories your body needs. Just make sure your eating healthy all the time and you wont need to exercise yourself to death. Just be mindful of exercising too much, because if your not getting enough calories your body will start burning muscle. My issue is I am not letting my body recover enough. I am eating more trying to keep up with my calorie burn. I just had a fill recently and my calories have reduced which makes my workouts a lot harder. My body will get use to it. I just have to be sure I consume enough prior and after now. This always helps me. Make sure you drink a recovery Protein Shake after a tough workout. That way you get the calories and Protein you need after a workout to build lean muscle tissue and you wont eat everything you see in the cupboards. Good luck and stay strong.. :smile:

[LoveIslovely 0]

Libby you are doing amazingly great!!!

I totally agree with my fellow October Bandster, do not punish your body. I am also obsessed with the gym and dont feel right If I dont go at least 6 times per week!

Bearbandit! you are doing great! We have lsot about the same amount of pounds!

[Libbyjane1976 1]

Thanks! It was funny because prior to this I would've eaten even more and never even thought about exercise and here I am I eat 1 granola bar and half a turkey sandwich and I consider myself as "overeating". Well I guess it's good that I feel the need to exercise. I guess it's a good thing and a good change for me. I don't even recognize the person i'm becoming. It's so funny because I recently cut off my hair too. Well not totally short but a couple inches above my shoulders and and I've never had it that short before. My sister commented that it's not me and I told her well it's the new me!

[BobbieND 3]

Ok Libby, Love and Bear .... Spill it! What's your secret the the amazing amout of weight loss???? I was banded 10/14/08 , and i'm down 38 pounds ... But you guys are down TWICE that! Is it all the exercise? What your eating? Would you be willing to give an example of a day / week in your life?? What you're eating, how much , what exercise you're doing, etc ... ? You could post it here, or you can post it to my email address ...

You all have me inspired to do more ...

You amaze me :-) !!!!

[Libbyjane1976 1]

19 pounds I lost were pre-op from going on the liquid diet. For some reason my body responded really well to the liquid diet. I was on it for 2 1/2 weeks and prior to that I started watching what I ate.

Since I've been banded I eat alot less. Breakfast M - F is Carnation instant Breakfast with skim milk, 1 packet and 2 servings of milk. That tides me over until lunch. lunch is either a sandwich and a piece of fruit or a lean cuisine and a piece of fruit.

dinner is whatever I decide to cook. Grilled chicken and steamed veggies (love those steam fresh bags) or whatever else I decide to make for dinner.

MOnday through Friday I pretty much eat healthy and stick to everything but come the weekend if I want to have a piece of cake or something I do. I make sure I still eat 3 meals a day at least 2 of them healthy but I definitely don't eat junk food all day anymore.

I struggle with every pound I lose and I've only been losing 1-2 lbs a week since I got banded. I've evercise about 2-4 nights a week. Lately i've been doing 3-4 nites a week for an hour long each time. That's all i've been doing.

[LoveIslovely 0]

I am on the same boat, for so me reason my body indeed responded very well to the liquid diet, i lost 40 something pounds, a month post-op. The rest I owe to my gym training and my husband aka the elleptical machine from hell!!! I eat healthier, no sugar, soda, fast food, fried food, greasy food, none of the evil foods lol.

[Libbyjane1976 1]

Yea I no longer eat fast food. I no longer buy junk food from the grocery store. I make exercising my priority. I don't even recognize myself anymore. lol. I'm turning into a fitness freak.

[greythope 0]

Just a word of caution from my own experience. Prior to getting lapband I'd managed to lose 100 pounds on Jenny Craig and being a gym junkie. I used to make sure to plan exercise around days that would involve a lot of food, e.g. rode my bike 40 miles on Thanksgiving. Eventually I got to the point where the exercise obsession was unhealthy and I would cry and hate myself if for some reason I couldn't go. Even if I was dying of the flu I would be at the gym coughing and hacking. I didn't listen to my body and would run through pain on the treadmill.

Eventually I made my back/hip problems worse and burned out. Needless to say the weight came back on since I stopped starving myself and couldn't maintain the strict schedule at the gym, particularly once my son was born.

So now I am careful and working with a trainer to avoid injury and just being kinder to myself. I still love the buzz but am trying not to be obessive. We have that in our personalities so have to be careful to not make something healthy into something unhealthy.

Excellent work though, you go girl!

[KarenK 0]

I'm starting towards obsession.

My original plan was to hit the gym 3 or 4 times per week. I'm up to 6 or 7 now. I do crunches on an exercise ball every night in front of the tv also. I've started dragging out my old aerobics step and doing it for a half hour each night as well. Now I've started walking the stairs and perimeter of each floor in my office building.

I think it all started ramping up because I hit a plateau and wanted desperately to get off of it. Now I'm afraid if I slow back down I'll plateau again! The problem is, I can't keep this up forever. At some point, I'm going to want a life away from exercise again!

Hope I can figure out how to do that.

[greythope 0]

I guess Karen just remember it took a long time to gain the weight in the first place, we can't lose it overnight. And what's the point in being thin and fabulous if you have no life besides exercise? That's the thing I keep telling myself - my level of exercise AND my weightloss have to be something I can maintain.

I am reading a book called 'binge no more' and it says exercise can go hand and hand with eating disorders. I am using it to keep my metabolism up, sure, but mainly it's to make my heart and my body strong to make me a healthier person who can live longer for my husband and my son.

[jennibells 0]

I too fell into the obsession of exercise before I got my band. I previously worked at a gym and I loved working out all the time. I worked out probably 2-3 hours a day and when I switched jobs and couldn't keep up with the excessive exercise I felt like a failure and eventually gained all the weight back. I now have set realistic goals of 30 mins of exercise 5x's a week. I usually do 60 minutes but in my mind if I get at least 30 mins in than I am sucessful that week. I tend to be obsessive but as far as I am concerned we all must exercise at least 30 mins 5x's a week to be healthy.

[OneHotMama 0]

Please pass along the excercise obsession this direction!

[greythope 0]

Please pass along the excercise obsession this direction!

LOL I know what you mean. But really is can be as unhealthy as any other behaviour in extreme. When I was like that I would HATE myself and feel like I wasn't worth being alive and was a fat disgusting cow when I'd miss a day. instead of being about getting health and strong I just wanted to be skinny.

I saw about 15 minutes of 'The Biggest Loser' the other day. One of the model girls had a stress fracture in her hip bone. I am sure this is from over-exercise. I didn't get something like that but I did run through a lot of pain, my body telling me not to be running on a bad disk but I ignored it, made it worse.

Now I leave the gym happy but not in extreme pain.

[jeremiahsmommy 0]

wow, I wish i loved exercise! I have a hard time getting on my wii fit, let alone going to the gym. I would honestly just rather be watching tv, or reading a book. I guess that why ive only lost 15 pounds this year. Give me some of your obsession, i sure can use it!